Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“What?”

‘Meng Lichuan was dazed.

It was not the first time that she had met someone from the imperium.

Decades ago, ‘Su Changfa’, an Immortal Cultivator of the Star Ocean Imperium, had been active in the federation. He had even taught the Great Dao of Cultivation in public.

After the Black Wind Fleet surrendered, more captives and immigrants of the Star Ocean Imperium moved to the federation, mainly on Boneyard, which was now Ultimacy. But some of them had moved to the inland of the federation and were well known.

However, the federal army had just fought a fierce battle against the Black Wind Fleet after all. The citizens of the federation were not sympathetic enough to pity any citizen of the imperium.

But the concept of ‘underground natives’ was completely different.

In the end, human beings were creatures who lived on the ground and in the light. Even if they lived in starships for the rest of their lives, they would still try to simulate the blue sky and the white clouds in order to provide sufficient sunlight.

Meng Lichuan found it hard to imagine how miserable it must have been for a human being to live for ten thousand years in an extremely harsh environment tens of thousands of meters below the ground and close to the mantle.

‘The high temperature and pressure brought by billions of tons of rocks were enough to crush the body of a human being and their free will into powder.

‘The few days of gaming experience in the ‘Inferno of Darkness’ expansion pack was enough to make many citizens of the federation feel that they were about to have a mental breakdown, not to mention that they would be living in darkness for the rest of their lives!

“Is—is this true?”

Meng Lichuan mumbled to himself.

But because of her preconceived notions, she was almost convinced by Bing Bing’s scared face.

‘What she saw on this face was not only confusion in the face of an unfamiliar environment, but also endless greed and longing for light, as well as the extreme fear of returning to darkness—human beings could have endured darkness until one day they saw light.

In the video, encouraged by Jin Xinyue, Bing Bing finally summoned the courage to speak to billions of federal citizens.

She stammered and stammered. Sometimes, she even forgot what she was going to say. In the long silence, she simply sobbed. It was obvious that she had not received any good training.

But it was such sincere and simple words that hit every citizen of the federation like burning cannonballs.

“My—my name is Bingbing. I’m from the Empyrean Terminus Sector and the Empyrean Terminus Planet, almost twenty thousand meters below the ground.

“Lcan prove that most of the environmental parameters and initial data of the main plot of ‘Dark Invasion’, including many virtual creatures and underground emergencies, are based on our lives and are 100% real.

“You may think that this is just a weird, evil, and even sick game and that it is just an alarmist, but unfortunately, it is not. It is our history, and it is possible that it will become… your future!

“Ten thousand years ago, in order to avoid the fire of war, my ancestors had to flee to a shelter deep below the ground. In the ten thousand years that followed, they sank time and time again into darkness where even cockroaches and lizards could not survive.

“There will never be sunlight in our world. Only magma and earth fire will emit terrifying rays of light from time to time. The fire snakes driven away by high pressure are the most terrifying ferocious beasts. They can take away the lives of all the creatures in a fault at any time.

“In our world, the temperature can reach hundreds of degrees at any time. Without cooling magical equipment, we find it hard to move forward. Every crevice is packed with dry corpses.

“In our world, the thin and stinky air has become priceless commodities. For a can of compressed air the size of a palm, the people of the two shelters can fight each other until the incendiary bombs burn everyone in one of the shelters to death and suffocate them to death. The rulers on the ground, on

the other hand, do not use force to suppress and annihilate us at all. As long as they control the transmission tubes of fresh air, they will be able to strangle us. We don’t want to kill each other, so we have no choice but to obey.

“In our world, no matter how hard people struggle, no matter how many generations of hard work and lives are spent to build a large town, it is possible that it will be completely obliterated by a small earthquake. Everything of the deceased will be buried by billions of tons of rocks, and no one will know

their name until the day the planet explodes.

“This is our world. This is the invasion of darkness that is happening around us every moment.

“But we are not the most miserable people in the dark world. At the very least, we still retain the consciousness of human beings, the memories of human beings, the wisdom of human beings, and the appearance of human beings. Although our vision has been declining in the lackluster years and we

cannot distinguish the colors of the bright world, at least we still have the ability to see the beauty of the world, unlike then—”

At this point, Bing Bing’s voice trembled.

She suddenly tured around and walked to the two cubes on her back that were covered in curtains. She lifted the curtains forcefully.

“ant”

All the audience in the press conference exclaimed in disbelief.

The two cubes turned out to be medical cabins made of transparent materials.

Inside the med bay squatted two monsters that looked neither like humans nor ghosts. Their bodies were covered in shells, their eyes had degenerated, and their eye sockets had melded with their skulls, making them look like yakshas.

Many spectators had discovered that such monsters appeared in the main plot of the ‘Dark Invasion’. They were the most common and most common kind of enemy that could cause tremendous trouble for the players, who often called them ‘swamp Freaks’.

Those monsters were indeed as sticky and annoying as swamps.

“Brothers and sisters of the Star Glory Federation, uncles and aunts, grandparents, please take a closer look at these… ‘things’!”

Bing Bing’s voice was shaking as if she were about to cry. “You may think that they are simple monsters, deformed animals, and the embodiment of darkness and evil, but you are wrong. They may be brutal, but they are not evil. They are human beings made of flesh and blood. They are our compatriots.

The only difference is that they are even more unlucky than us and have fallen into darkness that cannot be described with words.

“Without the help of ‘Vulture Li Yao’, a Cultivator from the Star Glory Federation, perhaps the town I’m living in will gradually mutate into their appearance in the next ten thousand years.

“If you are still hesitating about the future and watch the center of the universe be swallowed by evil, you will suffer the same fate as us. In the ten thousand years to come, you will slowly taste the horror game turning into reality and sinking into darkness. Eventually, you will become us and even them.

“Therefore, I’m begging you. On behalf of all the ‘underground natives’ living below the ground in the center of the sea of stars, who have been oppressed and savaged, who have fallen into darkness and suffocated, I beg our compatriots at the edge of the sea of stars—please save us. Please help us escape

from the darkness, from suffering, and from slavery. Also, please try your best to save your own offspring. Don’t, don’t fall into our end!”

Bing Bing bowed to the audience.

The few minutes of conversation seemed to have drained her. Her face was pale, and her body was shivering. When she was about to bow, she suddenly fell to the side and passed out.

The two ‘swamp freaks’, or rather, the two ‘freaks’ locked in the med bay, were jumping up and down, screaming and screaming, too. The most miserable image of mankind in the future was etched in the hearts of every spectator.

The press conference ended abruptly in chaos.

A stone could raise a thousand ripples, but the aftermath of the incident was far from peaceful. In the twelve hours that followed, it tuned into a raging storm that swept across the entire federation.

“Little Bingbing’s speech shocked countless citizens of the federation. The education that our generation has been taught since childhood is to ‘save the suffering compatriots in the center of the sea of stars and liberate the entire universe’. It is a belief that cannot be violated. It is unquestionable, and it

does not care what the cost is. This seems to be the first time that ‘the suffering compatriots in the center of the sea of stars’ have ever appeared in front of our eyes.

Jiang Baitao said, “Although the Black Wind Fleet has brought a lot of civilians with them, they are here for the colonization in the first place. Strictly speaking, they are the reserves of the invaders. Naturally, people will not sympathize with them or want to rescue them.

“But for an ‘underground native’ such as Bingbing, she was oppressed, had a deep hatred, and her roots were red. She was simply the most typical ‘saved’. She was politically correct to the extreme. Together with the fact that the little girl was indeed pitiful and cute, she instantly captured the hearts of

countless citizens of the federation.

“Besides, those ‘swamp freaks’ are quite scary. Who would want their descendants to end up like them?

“Therefore, the polls ended up like this. Ah, in just half an hour, the number of people who supported sending troops immediately increased by 1%. The public opinion is truly overwhelming and unstoppable!”

Meng Lichuan was silent. He pondered for a long time.

Being a first-string member of Team Moon Fiend at such a young age, there was no one who was not smart enough. Just now, he had been in a coma for too long, and his brain was not completely clear yet. That was why he followed Jiang Baitao’s train of thought in a daze. Right now, questions were

popping up in his brain one after another.

The peak confrontation, the sharp comments from the Dark Moon Foundation, the ‘Darkness Invasion’ press conference, the young lady of the Star Ocean Imperium who had come from afar, and Jin Xinyue, the mysterious boss of Team Moon Fiend who was standing behind the young lady… Everything

was connected in a zigzagging line, like the traces of a mysterious viper that had crawled through the grass.

“Ah”

Meng Lichuan shouted thoughtfully.

“What’s wrong with you? Is such an outcome bad?”

Jiang Baitao asked.

“It’s not bad. I just—”

Meng Lichuan looked at Jiang Baitao’s indifferent face and frowned. “I just don’t like it.”

“You don’t like it?”

Jiang Baitao smiled. “Believe me. Soldiers don’t like fighting, cither. They don’t like pulling out the intestines of their enemies and strangling them. They don’t like the sound of their flesh and bones being crushed by the treads. They don’t like turning into powder in the sea of stars together with their

starships. They can’t even leave their last words.

“But… but… but…”

The old member of Team Moon Fiend, who had worked in the intelligence analysis department of the Dark Moon Foundation for many years, stood up and walked to the window, looking at the blue sky and white clouds outside.

She was silent for a long time. Confusion flashed in her eyes, too, but she concealed it with professional calmness and said casually, “However, somebody has to do the things that nobody likes, right?”

BOOM! CRACK!

Huala!

In the sky of the light beam of Hundred Flowers City, dark clouds were gathering and thunder was roaring. A man-made storm was about to sweep the entire city and the federation…